Massachusetts State Senator Jason Lewis appears to suffer from nicotinophobia, the irrational fear of nicotine. He wants to add nicotine, which public health experts consider “relatively harmless,” to the list of drugs against which our country has been waging war — with dismal success — since the 1970s.

Lewis introduced a bill in the Massachusetts legislature that would ban the sale of nicotine products to anyone born after 2005, aiming to create a “nicotine-free generation.” Strangely, Senator Lewis’s bill does not prohibit people from consuming nicotine gum and nicotine patches — two forms of nicotine marketed exclusively as tobacco cessation products, which people often use indefinitely. It only bans individuals from consuming nicotine if they derive a personal benefit from it.

Britain’s Royal Society for Public Health states nicotine is “no more harmful than caffeine.” Like caffeine, nicotine stimulates and enhances concentration. Recent research shows nicotine can enhance attention, working memory, and episodic memory in both smokers and non-smokers. Studies have shown nicotine to be associated with improved short-term verbal memory performance and a faster learning rate in older adults. There is also powerful evidence that it helps people with schizophrenia to “normalize” their cognitive deficits and helps them function better, probably explaining the high rate of cigarette smoking among people with this mental health problem.

Unlike caffeine, nicotine increases beta-endorphins and helps relieve anxiety. This may explain why people under stress say, “I need a cigarette.”

Nicotine, like caffeine, has addictive properties. Both can cause withdrawal symptoms in people who have developed physical dependency. When people rely on tobacco to get their nicotine, they repeatedly expose themselves to carbon monoxide and tars, which contain the harmful chemicals found in tobacco.

While nicotine can raise heart rate and blood pressure — like caffeine — multiple studies have found no link between nicotine-based therapies and increased risk of heart attack or stroke. And there is no evidence that nicotine causes cancer.

Nicotine may harm the developing brain, but caffeine may also have similar effects, which is why many pediatricians advise parents against allowing their children to drink coffee. However, no one supports children consuming nicotine, and both state and federal governments impose age restrictions on nicotine products.

All the nicotine delivery systems that Senator Lewis wants to ban, including e‑cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and snus, are effective in helping smokers quit the habit. There is strong evidence that nicotine e‑cigarettes are the most effective form of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) — more effective than the gum or patches that Lewis would allow people to continue using. Studies show most teens who vape appear to be substituting it for cigarette smoking, not initiating nicotine use. The decline in youth smoking coincided with the advent of e‑cigarettes, and teen e‑cigarette use has also been declining, recently hitting a ten-year low.

Lewis is mistaken if he thinks a nicotine ban will work in a state surrounded by five nearby states where people can easily drive to buy nicotine products. After Massachusetts banned menthol cigarettes, a study found “millions of additional cigarette sales in the six state region of Massachusetts and its bordering states.” These bans “primarily sent buyers to other states and illicit markets.”

If Lewis truly believed all nicotine was dangerous, he would also seek to ban patches and gum, both of which people use long-term. It’s nicotinophobia that motivates him.

People with nicotinophobia view tobacco smoking as taboo. They extend their aversion to tobacco to anything they associate with it, and nicotine plays a crucial role. They give a pass to nicotine gum and nicotine patches because they are expressly designed as smoking cessation tools. Nicotinophobia helps explain why federal law bans e‑cigarette and nicotine pouch sales to anyone under age 21 but allows people aged 18 and above to buy nicotine gum or nicotine patches.

In effect, Senator Lewis seeks to infringe on adults’ right to consume whatever products they choose based on their personal risk-benefit assessments. This is because nicotine products, aside from those explicitly for smoking cessation, offend his sensibilities. In a society of free, autonomous adults, banning nicotine because it offends one legislator’s sensibilities is simply unacceptable.